Sala Baï

Created in 2002 by the French NGO Agir Pour Le Cambodge, Sala Baï is a free vocational training hospitality school based in Siem Reap.

The Sala Bai program was set up to provide life chances to the most disadvantaged who have little chance to get out of the cycle of poverty due to the following reasons:

Very low school attendance rate in a country where 60% of the population is under 20.

Girls drop out of school at a younger than boys to help at home, work or get married.

the number of hotels in Siem Reap, town of the Angkor temples is increasing very fast and requires a more and more qualified workforce.

The hospitality industry is the fastest growing economic sector of the country (in 2012 tourism accounted for 15% of GNP with 3.5 million visitors).

What do they do?

They aim to reduce poverty in Cambodia through social and professional insertion of young under-privileged Cambodians.

Every year, the school trains 100 young disadvantaged Cambodians in one of the four main professions of the hospitality industry: restaurant waiter/waitress, cook, receptionist & housekeeping attendants. Priority is given to girls (70%), due to the fact that they are more vulnerable and have less training opportunities.

To date, Sala Bai has trained more than 900 young people. They have all found a job within their first year of training. Thanks to these young trainees and the direct impact on their families, more than 5,500 people have benefited from Sala Baï.

They provide working skills, development & capacity to build local teams for a future autonomy of the program, while contributing to the development of responsible tourism and of vocational training in Cambodia.

EXO Foundation support

Sala Bai is one of our favourite organisations to work with as it genuinely contributes to break the poverty cycle of the poorest youth, carefully selected (annual salary below 300$) through house visits and family interviews. The EXO foundation supports Sala Bai by promoting it as responsible operation to be sold to travelers, with Exotissimo bringing over 500 clients a year to their restaurant.

How can you help?

Have lunch at the restaurant or stay at the hotel:

US$ 10 One lunch = approximately 1 training-day cost per student.
US$ 20 One night = approximately 2 training-day cost per student.
US$ 35 One night in the suite = approximately 4 training-day cost per student.

Buy a cook book (Cambodian Cooking, English version) – also available in French. La cuisine du Cambodge avec les apprentis de Sala Baï

US$ 24 French version = approximately 3 training-day cost per student.
US$ 33 English version = approximately 4 training-day cost per student.